


high society

by kidlightnings (revolver)



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Edwardian, F/M, Historical Inaccuracy, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:08:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22440850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revolver/pseuds/kidlightnings
Summary: Ky gets pulled into a plot, and Nadia gets a shock to her system that steels her for her next move. PWP from a larger AU.
Relationships: Apprentice/Nadia (The Arcana)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	high society

**Author's Note:**

> The setting is New York, the year is a wiggly hand gesture towards the 1900s, the plot is that Nadia is tired of her husband, and we're going to play fast and loose with social norms. Part of a larger Wild West AU. Enjoy!

Gentle notes floated through the space, airy, high, and circling Ky’s head like a breeze. He poured over perfectly round ice and slid the glass to the edge. It was swooped up in delicate, lovely hands and taken away. He watched it go.

Things wound down. Drowsy airs slipped into him, and he leaned against the back, subtly pushed hair back into clips, pins that held bright and more muted blues together.

The stranger at the end was not a regular, nor did she look fully like she belonged, but, he’d passed scant few drinks down to her. Just enough for her to idly sip for the majority of the evening.

She had not fully met his eyes at any point until he wandered down, drawn by her empty glass.

“Be having another? Almost last call.”

Red eyes met his, and he felt himself almost recede into himself.

“Where could, if one wanted to, find lodging appropriate to a lady traveling single?” she asked, ignoring his question.

Ky raised a brow. “From here, I have contacts at many, I would be able to reserve-”

She sighed, and he stilled at the silent command.

“I’d like that last drink,” she said.

“Of course.”

He stepped back long enough to pour another, straight, just as she’d been having it.

“Thank you,” she said.

Her tone was even. She wore a weary frustration painted on her face, brows knit and immaculate makeup only able to do so much, despite its perfection.

He moved to resume his spot, wipe out glasses, but she fixed him again with that gaze.

“Do you find yourself occupied?” she asked.

Her voice held a smokiness he couldn’t place. It didn’t dip into sultry, but it had a depth to it that all but dragged him forward.

“Not right now.”

She gestured at the bar in front of her.

“Then tell me your thoughts, or, listen to mine. It is what your occupation can do, is it not?”

He smiled despite himself.

“Suppose so. Tell me your troubles.”

In his head was the implication that thrust itself upon him, not against his will, but certainly more frequently than he’d ever expected. Ky had a certain, specific popularity. He was aware.

She sipped with a dignity beyond even Ky's normal clientele.

"I am faced with a choice of two unsavory options. One of them will leave me in good favors, afford me comfort, and yet.. It is repugnant to me, personally. The other choice.. it is a risk, it may leave me with nothing, but perhaps, a happy nothing."

Ky narrowed his eyes, regarded her.

"Ah, the devil you know…" he mumbled.

A faint smile crossed her lips. "You understand my predicament."

Ky idly rubbed at the high gloss of the counter, reflecting low lights in its polished surface. Piano wafted faintly.

"Well, you seem you've got more to lose than me.. I'm just a bartender. But I'd like to take the risk. I'd… Like to think I wouldn't stay in a comfortable hell."

She fixed him with a piercing stare.

"You'd like to… People like to think they would do _ many _ things. Would you?"

Grey eyes met red.

He let his eyes close, shrugged. "Probably not."

"Are you?"

She asked it so casually Ky wasn't sure he'd understood at first.

He gave another shrug that he hoped would appear nonchalant.

"Aren't we all?" he asked, smile cheeky.

"In hell? Perhaps some more comfortable than others.."

She smiled, and sipped. She didn't speak further, passed the glass back empty.

"You've given me something to think on," she finally said. "Some of your clients have accounts, do they not?"

Ky nodded. "They do."

"I'd like to open one, please put it under the name, Nadia Satrinava."

Ky recorded it, ink gliding on thin ledger paper.

"Ms. Satrinava," he confirmed.

Even so, she paid, and he found a sum, too specific to be accidental, generous, but not frivolously so.

"Good luck," he said as she turned to leave.

"It will not be luck."

The smile she flashed him was enigmatic.

Ky returned it, and began the process of cleaning to end the shift.

When Ky saw her again, Nadia had appeared at the bar as though she'd always been there. His eyes met hers, and he finished the current order, strode down the bar as though she was the only one there.

"Please, continue, I have no need of your undivided attention," she said, and he opened his mouth to respond.

"Yet," she concluded.

He felt himself chill under the firmness of the word.

"I see. What shall you have?"

"The same, for now."

"Of course."

Hours passed. Nadia occupied herself watching the room, and finally, idly reviewing papers, and writing, to what end, Ky didn't know. He could only presume, though, with her bearing, her tone, that she was a woman of business. She ordered again, and as the night again wound down, he gravitated to her, as though called by the subtle gaze she leveled him with at odd intervals.

Last call saw a frantic scrambling of rounds, and finally, as their player wiped down the keys and Ky heard the smooth pull of cover hiding them, he rested against the counter in front of her.

"Much as I'd like-" he began, was cut off.

"I've given it thought. I have a proposition for you."

Ky felt his heart jump, his throat tighten. Reputation or not, he wasn't used to the straightforward issuing of a request.

"If you'd play a small part in my plan, you would have my gratitude."

Ky raised a brow. "That's not what I expected," he said, ambiguously.

She smiled. "Oh, it certainly is, just perhaps not for the reason you expect."

"Me, though?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I have been looking for a certain honesty. You're the first to give me an answer in a way that I believe."

He felt red rise in his cheeks. "Of course I'll do it, but I'm at a loss how this will help you."

She smiled with more genuine amusement, and Ky felt himself unable to resist mirroring it.

"A good shock to the system, to remind myself what I am  _ missing _ ."

Ky chuckled. "Me? A shock? I hope to be anything but."

Nadia smiled, devious.

"A perfectly prepared bath can be a shock, when one is accustomed to a freezing river."

He leaned down into his elbows. "I can do that too."

Ky sighed, then, "You seem like discretion would be of benefit-"

Nadia raised a finger and he shut his mouth immediately.

"It will be of benefit if you'd escort me out, and we will return to where you live in plain sight, and later, I will exit, with you, and you will help me into the taxicab that you will have called for me."

"Oh. Ms. Satrinava," he said, "of course, my mistake."

"Shall we go?" she asked.

"Let me finish. Then, certainly."

And Ky did, wiped out the last of the glasses, wiped down the counter. In a moment of boldness, he extended his arm for her to loop hers through.

Nadia stood, and Ky found himself looking up slightly. He smiled.

Ky unlocked the entryway, then took the lift to his apartment. Nadia was at his side, a detached distance even in their closeness of her on his arm. Well, to Ky's mind, he was on her arm. He could feel the energy she radiated. He was definitely on her arm.

"So," he said, as he shut the door behind them, "can I get you a drink?"

Nadia laughed, more loud and genuinely amused than she'd dared in the bar.

"Didn't you already give me several? Or perhaps, you save your more top shelf options for those you take home?"

Ky felt drawn into it, laughed along with her. "Only the best for my personal stash, sure."

"But no, I must admit.. if the rumors hold true, I find myself impatient."

Her eyes danced, ruby under the low lighting.

Ky gave her a smile as he spoke. "I aim to please."

Nadia shook her head, replied, "Hush, you don't need to put in airs. I have certainty."

He felt his smile crack for a moment. "You… Do?"

Nadia regarded him with a smile, the warmth of which he almost couldn't stomach.

"Mm," Nadia responded.

Ky exhaled, hard, reached to cup her cheek.

She took his wrist in her grasp.

"You're bold."

He sucked breath in, gave her a nervous smile, tilting his head.

"Should I not be?"

She cupped the back of his head.

"Not until you finally let me know your name. I refuse to simply call you  _ barkeep _ ."

It hit Ky like a brick.

"M-my- my god-" he stammered. "Ky, ahaha, it's Ky. I can't- ah! I can't believe-"

She placed a finger to his lips. "Now,  _ Ky _ , be bold."

He caught her look, mischievous. And he stretched up, met her lips. Somewhere between where he could taste lipstick and alcohol, there was something darker. A spice that Ky felt he may have been projecting, or perhaps was the finish of what he'd been serving her. Or perhaps something strong from even earlier.

She kissed hard enough she could overwhelm him. Did overwhelm him. Her fingers slipped beneath the point where his hair was gathered, and tilted his head, opened up his neck to her. She kissed.

"Ky, tell me, how do you feel about pain?" she asked.

He shivered.

"Oh-" he started, helpfully.

Teeth grazed his neck, not pinching down. He groaned.

"-please," he said.

Ky yelped in a sound that faded sharply into a moan.

His hands fell to her shoulders, then to the buttons of her blouse. He eased them apart, parted the fabric. Nadia's lips and teeth worked him apart with the same precision.

Ky gave her a subtle tug, in the direction of his bed. It was a small apartment. Small, furnished in a deliberately sparse manner. It was void of personality, a blank slate, he had to admit.

He felt mattress behind his knees and sat in a controlled movement, tugging her with him.

She pushed him down more firmly. On her own, she dropped her skirts and shed her fitted blouse. Ky's hands moved to the hook and eye closures, easing them open in little push and pull motions one at a time.

"You _ do _ know what you're doing," she noted.

"Can get you back into it, too," he said, fingers toying with the lacing.

She cooed into his neck.

"Fantastic. Now, I need you to do something for me," she said as fabric and boning came away.

She sat next to him, rather than what he'd expected. Her sliding into his lap though hadn't felt right in a way he couldn't place. It felt out of order.

"What do you need?" he asked, hopeful.

"Your mouth."

Ky felt his face heat. "Mm. Can- can do that. Can.. Do."

He turned to bend down, across her, kiss her hip, small jut rising against a toned stomach. The rest of him turned, then, a hand on each thigh as he dropped between her legs, knees hitting the floor in a move that sent sharp shocks through  _ his _ system.

Ky trailed his lips along her inner thigh, working towards her heat, his mind honing in hard on her mention of impatience. Curls tickled his lips as he closed against her. Closed, and licked in.

Her hand landed in his hair, pushed his bangs back, and he looked up with both eyes.

Her voice was soft, nearly silent.

Ky raised his brow, knit them together as his tongue worked. He parted her with two fingers, and his tongue curled against her.

He felt the silent tremble under his tongue, as his head was shoved down to go harder, closer. Ky went fast and under no pretension of trying to draw anything out, licked until his head was squeezed between smooth, strong thighs.

"Ky," she murmured when he was released and raised his head to meet her eyes.

He rested his arms, slim, toned, covered in close-fitted rolled sleeves, on her legs.

"Now what do you need?" he asked, eyes dancing.

She laughed, clear and deep. "The usual," she said.

"How usual?"

Ky kissed again at the same place in her hip.

Nadia sighed, gave his hair a tug.

"You, come up here, and lie back."

Ky blushed. "L-like that?"

Nadia made a little affirmative noise.

Ky let himself be pulled.

Bold, he considered, and slid up her, hands on her shoulders, and pulled back, shifting her on top of him. She could devour him, and he'd welcome it. Dark lipstick marred his collar. Ky's one hand worked the buttons to his shirt, the other shrugged suspenders from his shoulders. Her lips gave way to teeth against his jaw, and he moaned. He arched under her, a desperation in how he moved to have his skin against hers. His fingers moved to the fly of his pants, and he wriggled them down.

They were just clear when she, wet with both of them, let him push inside.

Ky moaned. Tight, hot, and almost more than he could stand all at once.

"Oh-  _ god _ ," he whined, moving against her like a wave in the ocean.

Ky bucked into her until she pinned him down.

"Slow," she chided. "I want it to be worth both of our time."

He bit his lip, looked up, addled.

"Oh, but you  _ are _ a welcome sight, and a welcome ride. You enjoy being good, don't you?"

Ky swallowed hard. His cock felt as though he could barely last another minute, and like that, she stilled on him.

"Y-yes," he stammered.

"Then you'll not finish until I tell you to."

Ky felt the bottom fall out of his head.

" _ Yes _ ," he called into the night.

She sat on him, and his cock ached for her to move.

"Your hands.. they seem quite talented, if I might have a demonstration?"

Nadia's voice was coy, playful, as he smiled and slicked his fingers in his mouth.

"Whatever you want," he replied, slipped two between her lips to frame where his tongue had lapped at earlier.

He walked the tips against her, traced tiny paths, and felt her subtly rock into his touch. The rocking gave just enough sensation to torture him.

A soft little chuff of breath passed his lips, frustrated delightfully, aching. He had no doubt her motion was entirely for his disservice.

“You are so  _ patient _ ,” Nadia cooed, even as he felt tremors in her legs.

Her eyes shut tightly, and her voice was louder, now, as he felt her squeeze his hips with her thighs, and his cock from inside.

Ky exhaled, fought everything in him that demanded for him to buck up into her.

She rocked down onto him, and he groaned.

" _ Nah _ -dia," he whined.

“Mm- it  _ is _ my name-” she said, voice, losing its evenness. “Did you need something?”

"Ahh- ah- n-no-" he murmured, as the motion stopped.

Gods, but he didn't want to interrupt her plan, he realized. Not with his whining need. Nadia felt to him the type to know where an encounter would go from a hundred paces back. He'd have hated to be her adversary. He  _ loved _ being her coconspirator, it seemed.

"Your voice is lovely, let me hear it more," she said, rocked into his fingers.

Ky didn't need the prompting, breathed out a soft moan at her moving on him, tight, slow. He dragged his fingertips in gentle circles, motions everything but teasing. He was trying to get her there fast, impatience still wholly noted as he stroked, then withdrew for just a moment to rewet in his mouth.

Nadia gripped his wrist as he returned it.

"Ky.  _ Ky _ , don't stop," she urged, voice almost as tight as she felt to him.

Ky only nodded, and her voice jumped into a soft, subdued cry as he felt her walls squeeze him. His voice joined, and he fought not to jerk his hips up into her to get more feeling, more friction.

"Oh, keep going," she urged, then starting to actually  _ move _ on him.

The sensation as she rode him was almost enough to unsteady his hand from the task. Something else to focus on, though, helped distract him from what would otherwise have been far too fast of a build.

The flick of his fingertips against her clit, more direct as one finger slid back the hood, pulled a louder exclamation from Nadia in a language Ky didn't know.

His eyes met hers, and he mouthed it,  _ come for me _ , and her lip quirked up.

" _ So _ bold," she teased.

He blushed, its hitting him that it hadn't just been in his head, an errant thought.

"Not yet, darling, keep working."

Ky groaned, did snap up into her, surprised when the action garnered a sudden cry.

" _ More of that _ ," Nadia breathed, and he obliged, stomach tight and his free hand moving to grasp into the sheets, give himself the leverage to rock up in steady motions.

His fingers as well kept stroking, slickness now not something he had to worry about as his fingers glided against her.

Her voice rose, low, lips pulling open as he felt the fluttering tremors around his cock.

He added force behind his movements, trying to draw out her orgasm as he could. He moved his lips, fumbling to speak.

"N-nah-  _ Nadia _ \- I'm-"

She pinned him by the shoulder, leveled him with a gaze like a red sky at dawn.

He breathed, swallowed as hard as he could. His cock  _ ached _ as he stilled his movements.

"Ahh- ahh,  _ please _ ," he whined. "Please, I'm  _ so close _ -"

"You _ are _ so good," she soothed, releasing his shoulder to brush back his bangs, stroke his hair.

His whole body was tight with need, and she lifted from him. He cried out, a shaking sound as cold air enveloped where he was so slick from her.

Nadia scratched lightly at his scalp, pet through his hair, brought her other hand into play. He leaned into it, lips parted in a needy moan. Her eyes fixed on his cock in a facsimile of sympathy, lip quirked up, mischievous.

"You _ are _ very finely set, aren't you?" she asked, then breaking contact with one hand to wrap her fingers around him, pump gently.

"Look at it, the curve, the thickness… I could enjoy this quite a lot more than just tonight."

"D-did you?" he asked, grinning despite himself.

She smiled. "I've not come on a fine prick in some time. I  _ certainly _ did. Now, though, your part is played, and excellently."

Ky's heart leapt into his throat as her hand left him.

" _ Please _ ," he whined. "Please- I- I need-"

His voice was high and indecently loud as she leaned down in a quick move to have her deep red lipstick smudging down the length of him.

"I know what you need, and I  _ am _ going to give it to you, you can have it," she tutted, as she pulled back, and he could see the color streaking down to the base.

She slid down again, and Ky barked a moan.

" _ Fuck _ , oh!" he exclaimed, watched waxy red smooth with each slip, blend into making him look painfully swollen. "Oh- I can't- I'm, ah, I'm gonna-!"

He couldn't finish the sentence as she pushed down to the very base and he shot down her throat. His cry echoed off the sparse walls, long as orgasm spiked through him.

He whimpered, soft, as he came down and her lips left him. She regarded him with a pleased smile, points on her lips showing under the color.

Ky panted, chest heaving as he recovered.

"Fuck- ohh, fuck," he murmured, thoughtless.

She again had hands in his hair, stroking, nails tracing up his jawline, and his throat, bringing him out of the dazed state he found himself in.

"Oh, look at you. You are a sight I'd enjoy in my bed. A lovely prick I'd ride again… a shame you are only for this evening."

He smiled at the praise.

"Could be for more, if you wanted."

Her expression was fondly indulgent.

"Unfortunate, but, it cannot."

She settled into him, warm against his chest.

"In another lifetime… I would dearly like it to be."

He slowly, gingerly curled his arm around her, a testing motion.

"Ky. You are lovely, do not let this linger. We are pieces in a larger game. Your move here is done, but you have so many more to make beyond this. Now come, you have only to call me a car and escort me down. Dress me, if you please."

Ky swallowed down the warmth in his heart, and nodded.

Once she eased up off of him, he began to gather clothes, both hers and his, and set to hers. His hands were fast, pushing buttons through closures with a precision and he felt Nadia's eyes on.

He couldn't help his lips pressing to the space between her breasts before he had her shirt closed over them.

Her fingers tangled into his hair, pulled his head back to meet her eyes.

His grin was sheepish.

"You will  _ delight _ someone someday," she laughed.

"Like I did you?" he asked, cheeky.

"Yes, but to keep."

His smile wavered. "Of- ahh, I hope."

She stroked his hair. "I know."

He let his eyes slip closed once he finished the final fastenings and smoothed where material had puckered, rumpled.

As her hand left his head, he breathed hard, dispelling the little trance he could almost have fallen into.

"Let me call you that car," Ky said, crossed to the phone on the wall, a small luxury, yet, he supposed, one that made complete sense for him.

As he dialed out, she sat on his bed, patient, finally. He ordered, and set to dressing with efficiency. Once put together, he offered her his arm.

"Shall we, Ms Satrinava?"

She giggled, a sound that he'd never have expected, but somehow still suited her, and delightfully.

"We shall. I shall need just a bit more of your affection."

"Certainly," he agreed.

He escorted her again down the lift, and out to the street. Her lips fell against his, full, and in a way that had him sighing softly into her.

As the car aligned with curb, they parted from the impropriety, and he helped her in, a show surely not for her benefit, he'd imagine.

"Thank you, for the consultation," she said.

Ky smiled, tipped his cap in a small gesture.

"Good fortune to your business."

As he closed the door after her and the car trundled off into the night, he watched, just breathed into the cold of the night.

His fingers moved to touch his lips, and he finally turned, started back up to his flat.

**Author's Note:**

> Come chill with me on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/kidlightnings) or [tumblr](http://kidlightnings.tumblr.com/) ♥


End file.
